It's Thursday, Thursday, gotta get down on Thursday...
Haha jk jk, although I sure hope I got Rebecca Black's voice stuck in your heads since it's now stuck in mine!
Anyway, nothing new here really. It's been kinda a bummer week. Our baby goat died Monday afternoon so that's put us all in a downer mood. She had been sick for just under a year (we think she had something metabolic) and in the last couple months she took a major turn for the worse. I think the rest of the herd is sad she's gone (at least I like to think so) but on the plus side, we still have all them so they make us happy :)
Wow, now that I've told you all that downer of a story... But on a plus note, my little sister gets home from college tomorrow! I'm so excited to see her! AND she'll be home for a whole month before she has to go back! Unfortunately, she doesn't like Supernatural... My dad and I finished Season 1 tonight (aka like, 2 minutes ago) so it took us 13 days to watch 22 episodes hahaha. (insert evil laugh here because I got my dad hooked on a show he thought was stupid mwahaha)
Well now that I've said all that, I guess on with the real reason you clicked on this link haha.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Meg knew the sun had risen, but she reveled in the ability to stay in bed. Stretching herself out, she sighed before curling up into a ball again. Rolling on her side, she looked around her room before her eyes fell on Adam's bed. Not willing to let anything ruin her day before it started, she turned back over and looked up at the ceiling.
Her fight with Lew the night before was still fresh in her mind. Very fresh, but she wasn't going to think about it. They had ended the night on a good note, there was no way she was going to bring it up again.
After their tryst in the shower, Meg and Lew had dried off before rushing back to Lew's bunk. She used the term "rush" loosely; Lew had still been drunk and had mostly hobbled. By the time they got through the door, Meg was practically holding him up, using all of her strength to keep him from falling face forward to the ground.
She had made quick work with stripping his clothes and tucking him into his bed. He had whispered a strangled 'thank you' before she kissed him on the forehead and ducked out before she was caught there by someone.
Now, less than eight hours later, she was ready to admit the fight was over. This wasn't the time to be pressuring Lew about his drinking. As much as she hated it, she knew he was right.
Everyone dealt with things differently, and if this was Lew's way of getting through the war, who was she to stand in his way? Besides, did she really have the authority?
A small, selfish part of her didn't want to pressure him either. She had no hold over Lew; if she pushed him too much, he could leave her at any minute. She wasn't a desperate, clingy girl by any means, but she needed Lew. He had helped her get through so much in the last few months and she knew it was only going to get worse before it got better. What would she do if she didn't have him to help her through the rest of it?
"I'm as bad as all those society girls," she moaned out loud as she rolled her body out of bed. She knew she couldn't prolong it anymore; she had to start her day. She had neglected a quarter of yesterday's letters and it would only add to her workload for today. She needed to start now if she wanted to be done by suppertime.
"Morning," she said cheerfully as she plopped down at the Easy table, grinning at the sour looks on everyone's faces. "Something wrong?"
"You're too chipper this morning," Muck mumbled, his fingers slowly tearing at his toast.
"Maybe you're all just too melancholy," she said and Toye wrinkled his nose.
"Huh?" he asked and Meg just rolled her eyes, drinking her cup of coffee before standing up and walking over to the officers' table. Harry and Dick were there, heads bent in deep conversation.
"Am I interrupting something?" Meg asked as she came to a stop, causing both of them to look up at her.
"No, not at all," Harry said as he slid over, patting the bench next to him. Meg grinned before sitting down.
"Well, how are you both this morning?" she asked, quick to note their faces. Both of them looked concerned, with a bit of shock mixed in.
"How are we? How are you?" Harry clarified. "Dick tells me you and Lew got into a nasty fight last night."
"Oh, we did," she tried to say casually, adding a shrug of the shoulders for good measure. "But it's all in the past."
She looked across the table at Dick, locking eyes. He smiled and tossed her a wink, telling her he understood exactly what had happened after he left. She had taken his advice, and it seemed to have worked out for the better.
"So that's just it then? No crazy fighting? No slinging words back and forth?" Harry had the nerve to sound disappointed.
"And why would you think any of that would happen?" Meg asked, reaching out to tap him on the nose before standing up. "Today is starting out to be a good day and I refuse to let anything ruin it."
"Meg?" a voice said suddenly and she smiled when she recognized it as belonging to George. Turning toward him, she frowned when he rushed in her direction quickly, not even stopping as he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him.
"What is it?" she asked as they both ran in the direction of Battalion. Something seemed off; George didn't usually act this way. He was the jokester, so seeing him this serious was terrifying.
"You've got a phone call. He said it was urgent," George told her and Meg tried to pull against him; to stop him. If this was Marco calling to tell her Adam was dead, she'd rather hear it later than sooner. Whatever happened to her good day?
"George," she said slowly, finally pulling her hand free and coming to a stop. "I can continue on my way to Battalion. Can you fetch Lieutenant Nixon?" she asked. "He should still be in his barracks and it might take a good amount of effort to wake him. Please just tell him I need him to meet me at Battalion immediately?" George looked her in the eye before nodding and hurrying off in the other direction.
Feeling as if each step was carrying her closer to her doom, Meg continued in the direction of Battalion, wishing she was anywhere but there. Why had she gotten out of bed that morning? Why couldn't she have just stayed nestled in the sheets, enjoying the day before it really got started?
When she could no longer prevent the inevitable, she climbed the steps and walked through the front door. For the most part, the place was empty, save for one orderly sitting behind the main desk. Spotting her, he jumped up and ran over to the phone, holding it out.
She approached him slowly, terrified to take hold of the receiver. When he took a step forward so it was closer to her hand, she took it, raising it slowly to her ear.
"Meg Myeroff," she spoke, her voice cracking. Hearing the door open, she turned and gave a tight smile when Lew and George walked in.
"Meg," a voice said and she almost dropped the receiver, her eyes widening in shock.
"Adam?" she whimpered as she locked eyes with Lew. His eyebrows raised at the name but he didn't make any move in her direction.
"It's so good to hear your voice," Adam said and she let loose a laugh, her eyes filling with tears of joy. His voice sounded raspy, worn and tired, but at that moment she didn't care. He was alive!
"You have no idea how much I agree with you," she choked out, taking a seat in a chair next to her. "Where are you?"
"Just about to catch a plane over from France. I was at Lynette's but I found someone willing to drive me to an air force base. I just wanted to call and make sure you knew I was alright."
"Oh thank God," Meg said, her hand coming up to rest on her heart. She glanced back up at Lew and George, giving them a relieved smile as they both pulled up chairs and sat down in front of her.
"I'm coming straight to Aldbourne. I can't find a pilot willing to take me all the way up to Base so I'm just going to come there for the night and then head up tomorrow."
"Have you contacted Marco?" she asked, not even caring what the answer was. Adam was alive and that's all that mattered.
"Not yet. I'll call him when I'm done with you. I just know how much you were worried so I wanted to let you know I was alright."
"Thank you," she said. "But you should go call Marco. I'll be waiting at Battalion until you arrive so come home soon."
They said quick goodbyes and she hung up the receiver, collapsing back against the chair.
"So Adam's alright?" Lew finally asked and Meg nodded, happiness written all over her face.
"That's good to hear Meg," George said before taking a step back. "I'm just gonna go tell the boys you're alright." And with a tip of his hat, he left.
Glancing at the orderly filing paperwork, Lew reached over and grabbed Meg's arm, pulling her down the hallway and to a side office. When they were inside, he pulled her to him, hugging her tightly.
At first she had thought this was his sneaky way of getting a passionate, romantic moment between the two. However that did not seem to be on his mind as he let go of her and pulled a chair over, practically shoving her onto it.
"When's he coming back?" Lew asked, squatting down in front of her.
"Tonight hopefully. He was just getting ready to board a plane in France."
"Well we won't have too long to wait then," he told her as he stood back up and grabbed a chair, pulling it up next to her and taking her hand.
"Hold on," she said suddenly, looking at him with confusion. "How did you and George get here so fast? I sent him to wake you less than ten minutes before you showed up."
Lew smirked, making her slightly weak in the knees. Thank goodness for the chair!
"I was actually on my way to the mess hall when he came across me." At his statement Meg chuckled.
"You had me wondering if there was some secret way to wake you so quickly," she teased and he smirked before reaching out and grabbing her chair, sliding it closer to him.
"If there was, you'd know it," he said against her lips before closing the distance between them.
"Thank you Lew," Meg said, smiling at him. "Thank you for everything."
Adam finally arrived at close to four in the morning. Lew had fallen asleep, his head lulling back as he snored lightly. Meg however, was too excited to fall asleep. Any minute her brother was going to walk through those doors and she'd be able to hold him close again. It had been exactly one month since he had left Aldbourne; one month since Meg had hugged him goodbye. The fact that he was going to be back with her made it too hard to sleep.
While she waited, she had dug through the mail room, coming across a sack of letters addressed to her from the last few days. Figuring now was as good a time as ever to catch up on her work, she sat down and began decoding.
When she finally heard talking in the hallway, she shot up, nudging Lew somewhat roughly. As he stumbled over his words and tried to adjust to being awake, the door to the office opened and the orderly led Adam inside.
"Adam!" Meg cried as she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and letting him lift her into the air. "Oh thank God!" she said as she continued to squeeze him close. As they continued to hug, Meg felt Adam's head turn as he looked behind her. Setting her down, he let go of her with his right hand and judging by the footsteps behind her, Meg knew Lew was walking over.
"Lieutenant," Adam said as they shook hands.
"Welcome back Adam," Lew replied. Smiling at their pleasantries, Meg sighed. With Adam to her left and Lew to her right, this was what it felt like to be truly happy. "I should probably head back and get a few hours of shut eye. Besides, I'm sure you'd like to catch up on sleep too," Lew said and Adam nodded.
"I did get some sleep on the plane over. It looks like you two are more exhausted than I am," he teased as the three turned and headed out the door.
"Oh!" Meg shouted suddenly, releasing herself from her brother's arms and scrambling to pick up all her letters. She had almost forgotten them in her excitement to see Adam. No matter how happy he was to have him back, Meg knew Marco would not approve of her leaving letters out in the open.
"I'll catch you two tomorrow," Lew said, holding his hand up in a small wave before walking out the door.
"Oh I'm so glad you're back safe," Meg said when it was just the two of them. "You have no idea how worried I was." And she proceeded to tell him all about her scare of a few days prior as they finally headed back to their quarters.
"I'm sorry I scared you so much," Adam said as they walked inside and immediately began getting ready for bed.
"What happened?" she asked as he turned off the light.
"Can we talk about it tomorrow Meg? I'm too tired to form words."
She agreed and so they both nestled into their respective beds, falling into the first peaceful sleeps they'd both had in weeks.
"Well look who it is," Muck called out the next morning when Meg walked sleepily into the mess. She had been woken roughly by a nightmare that the phone call had been Marco telling her Adam was dead. Upon seeing his sleeping form on the bed across from her, Meg had sighed contently and nestled back in. But the images from the nightmare were still too vivid and she found she couldn't fall back asleep.
So much for sleeping in.
"Good morning," she said, putting on a false smile as she squished into her usual spot between George and Muck. "Oh I'm so happy to see you all," she said as she rested her head on George's shoulder and yawned.
"We can tell by your enthusiasm," he told her and she chuckled, closing her eyes to snuggle into his shoulder.
"So we heard Adam's back, how is he?" Floyd asked and she shrugged.
"Lucky," she said and they frowned at her in confusion. "He's still asleep. I stayed up until 4 am, working on my decoding while I waited for him."
"That's our Meg," George teased.
"Shut up," she replied before shutting both eyes again.
"I see she at least made it to the table," Adam's voice said and Meg smiled, feeling George scoot closer to her so her brother could sit down. "You look comfortable Meg," his voice said somewhere to her left and she just nodded, already half in a sleepy daze.
"I like the underworked Meg better than the overworked Meg," Bill said and she stuck out her tongue at him.
"I leave you with American men and it only takes six months for your manners go right out the window?"
The voice was new to the Easy men but as soon as Meg and Adam heard the first two words spoken they both rose to their feet quickly, arms up in a proper salute. Not quite knowing what to do, the Easy men all looked at each other.
The new speaker walked over to them, stepping into their viewpoint. He was an older man, perhaps in his mid-50s, with graying hair and a thick mustache. He was dressed in a simple black suit but the boys were quick to note there was a large, gold, circular pin on his lapel.
"Sir," Meg said, her voice adopting its deeper tone. "I apologize for the improperness of my actions."
The man laughed, nodding to the siblings.
"At ease, I'm not going to shoot you over that," he said and they both dropped their hands, turning to face the man.
"I wondered if you were gonna show up," Adam said and the man nodded, motioning to the door.
"Let's take a walk," he suggested, turning and walking out before either could argue. Adam scrambled off after him as Meg turned to the group.
"Sorry boys, duty calls," she said, tapping George on the head before turning and following after her brother and Commanding Officer. She was certainly more awake now!
The three of them walked in silence to Battalion HQ. There, Marco introduced himself to Colonel Sink quickly before requesting a private room.
"I was just about to head down and speak with my COs, you can have my office," the Colonel said and Meg gave him a smile of thanks as he headed out the door, shutting it after him.
"Alright so what's this all about?" Meg asked, crossing her arms as she turned to Marco. Again, he laughed.
"Glad you didn't act like this in front of the Yanks. They'll think I have no control over you."
Adam scoffed at Marco's statement, causing Meg to frown. Before they could get into a sibling argument however, Marco continued.
"I just knew whatever had happened to Adam was serious. Instead of waiting for him to get to Base, I decided to come here."
"Finally growing claustrophobic in our office?" Adam asked and Marco laughed deeply.
"Not so much claustrophobic as sympathetic," he explained and both Myeroff siblings frowned in confusion. "If you had heard Meg's voice on the phone all those weeks ago, you would understand. I may be a firm leader but I'm not cruel enough to pry you away from her so soon after being reunited."
Meg smiled, running forward and throwing her arms around her CO. He stumbled slightly in shock, eyes wide as he carefully returned the hug.
"It's not for long though," he explained as Meg pulled away. "I want you reporting to Base in two days for your debriefing."
Meg wanted to complain that two days was much too soon when taking into consideration the fact that two days ago she thought she'd never see him again. Still, she knew this was extremely generous for Marco. In all honesty, she wasn't sure if he'd ever done anything like this for another agent in the IIA. There was a war going on; she couldn't be selfish.
"For now, I'd like to hear what happened over there," Marco finished as he settled down into Colonel Sink's chair. Wanting to hear what happened as well, Meg sat down on Sink's desk, hoping he wouldn't mind.
"Well, my ride took me to the German border and after changing into that Kraut uniform I was able to sneak my way through to the other side. After I was over, I still had to travel only at night because that Kraut uniform was a blessing and a curse."
"How so?" Meg asked, ignoring the glare Marco was giving her. He hated when people interrupted debriefings.
"Well sure I looked like a German, but any German soldier seen on his own was considered a deserter and shot. After two days of travel I came across a town and was able to steal normal clothes. Then I was able to move a little more freely and I made it to the rendezvous point, but Swinson wasn't there. I had no way to contact anybody so I didn't know if he'd been killed, captured, or escaped and was sitting back nice and warm at Base while I was wearing my ass of searching for him.
"I waited for another four days before one morning I heard talking outside. It was a group of German soldiers and, for some reason still unknown to me, they decided to burn down the hut that was the rendezvous point. Of course, they had the place completely surrounded so I couldn't sneak out. I hid under a blanket in the center of the hut and waited until I couldn't take it anymore. I made sure to have my gun ready first and then I jumped out through a window."
"Oh!" Meg cried, again ignoring Marco. "Did they see you?"
Adam chuckled at her enthusiasm before shaking his head.
"No, they were gone. I don't know if they were ordered to burn the place down or if it was just in good fun, but they didn't stick around to see it burn to the ground. I was able to sneak into the woods nearby and nestle down into a crevice.
"Then came the problem of meeting up with Swinson. The rendezvous point was destroyed and I didn't even know if he'd still show up or if he'd see the damage from afar and not even get close enough. I couldn't contact anyone because all of my things were destroyed in the hut."
"Adam," Meg said with a role of her eyes. "That's why we were always trained to keep everything on our person."
"Yes, yes I know Little Miss Perfect Agent, no need to remind me," he said, his tone indicating that his happiness at being reunited with her was waning.
"Children," Marco said patronizingly and they both stopped. "Continue Adam."
"Anyway, I was able to sneak out of hiding at night and steal food and water from some of the local houses, but for the most part I stayed hidden. Then, after about a week, just when I was about to give up and start planning my escape out of Germany, he finally showed up. He said some bullshit about needing to wait until the right moment to sneak away, so after arguing about it for a bit, we heard more German voices. Afraid of being spotted, we crawled deeper into the woods until we came to barn. We were able to hide in there for a couple days before being able to sneak back out and head to the German border. You seriously need to train some of your agents better Marco," he added. "Swinson was one of the worst I've ever had to work with. I can't believe he was ordered on that operation."
"Well they all can't be as perfect at their job as you two," Marco said sarcastically and Meg and Adam caught eyes, smirking.
"That's unfortunate for you," Meg cut in before Adam continued.
"So anyway, we made it to the border after about five days. It took a little longer because they're moving like crazy over there. I don't know if it's because they're scared of an invasion or if they're preparing to retaliate but they're like a bunch of ants, crawling all over the place."
"Can I interrupt?" Marco asked casually and Adam stopped to look at him. "If Swinson crossed the border with you, why isn't he here with you now?"
"He's at Lynette's. He got cut on some barbed wire while we were travelling and it looked like it was infected. Lynette offered him a warm place to stay while she fixed it up. He'll be reporting to Base by tomorrow sir."
"You let one of our agents warm up at a whore house?" Marco asked, sounding angry.
"Hey, you send me there all the time," Meg began but Marco cut her off.
"Of course I do, you're a woman. The only warming up Swinson better be doing is under a bunch of blankets."
Meg and Adam snickered again as they locked eyes. Sometimes Marco was too serious about things.
"So anyway, that's pretty much it. At Lynette's I called both of you and now here I am," Adam finished somewhat lamely.
His story done, the three of them looked at each other, not quite sure what else to say. After a moment of awkward silence, Marco stood up.
"I should be off."
"Off?" Meg cried, standing as well. "But you've only just gotten here."
"And now I'm leaving," he replied in his patronizing tone. Then his face softened. "Come on Meg, you of all people should know I don't have the leisure to relax with my two favorite agents, even if I wanted to."
"So you do admit we're your favorites?" she asked, a grin spreading over her face.
"If you tell anyone, I'll deny it," Marco replied before squeezing both their shoulders. "Two days Adam," he reminded them before walking out the door.
"Why does he do that?" Meg asked rhetorically.
They both watched him leave before linking arms and heading back to their quarters.
"What's on the agenda for today?" Adam asked as they walked, basking in the warm August sun. It was strange to think that it had been almost 10 months since Meg had first stepped on Aldbourne soil. So much had happened to them since then.
"Well perhaps you would be so kind as to help me decode the stack of letters sitting on our desk? It is after all partially your fault that they haven't been done."
"My fault?" Adam asked in surprise.
"I would have had them done days ago if I hadn't been so worried over your disappearance."
Adam laughed at her excuse and she smiled.
It didn't matter what would happen tomorrow, or a week from then. Today was perfect.
Unfortunately for Meg, perfect wouldn't last.
So I guess my complaining worked haha. My reviews jumped up last chapter, so yay me! And of course yay all of you! Thanks so much! They mean a lot. I also got a bunch of new favorites/follows/everything else so thanks to all my new readers! I hope you guys are all enjoying it so please let me know what you think!
ChastityHope13 - Thanks for your review! It means a lot to hear from readers so yay! I'm glad you're really enjoying the story, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
Rose2621 - Thanks for the review! I'm glad you love my story! Love is such a strong word, so I'm glad you used it haha. It's nice to know how much you like it!
LovingBOBThePacific - Awww I'm sorry you're almost in tears! Confession, one of the upcoming chapters totally made me cry when I wrote it! I won't tell you which one until AFTER you read it, but I know what you mean about feeling with the characters! Yeah, Meg's pain was hard in the last chapter, so hopefully this one kind of makes up for it. Adam's alive! So yay for that haha. And you're welcome on the Joe/Meg moments :) I enjoy writing her relationships with all the different men; it's fun!
G. - You reviewed AGAIN! I'm so excited! Beyond excited! THIS chapter contained like, 15% new material (hahaha) so I'm eager to hear what you thought of that (and since apparently you enjoy reading my responses first, you should be on the lookout for the new stuff when you read haha). Once again, I'm SOOO glad you're loving this so much! It makes me happy haha. And confession, I loved that part too. I had it happening in a different scene etc, and then I ended up taking that scene out. I kinda revolved this whole new scene around that pen moment, JUST so I could keep it in haha. And yeah, there wasn't a lot of argument in my first (and second) draft, so that's something I've been trying to work on. Real relationships have argument, so theirs DEFINITELY should hahaha. As for Lew's character, you're spot on. He's more of the "this is what you get, deal with it" kind of guy, so def no cheesy promises. Hope you liked this one too!
SparkELee - Yay you're back! And I'm so glad you got all the Valkyrie stuff. I didn't want to keep making stuff up and I was like "oooo could I toss that in somehow?" and voila! I like that even though you dislike Adam, you know how important he is to her, and I'm glad you got that whole "lost" thing where he's concerned. The truth will all be told soon, but there's a special reason why she and Adam are connected and it plays a big role in why she's especially worried about his possible death (besides the obvious fact that he's her brother hahaha). As for George and Don, I think they're my favs after Lew. I love both of them in the show, so I knew I wanted to incorporate them into my story. I'm glad they don't seem forced or out of place. And yes, blow ups do happen. In all honesty, their relationship has been pretty tame in regards to arguments haha. I guess this one was just bound to happen sometime. I'm really glad you couldn't decide which side you'd take! I definitely didn't want anyone disliking a character as a result of the argument, so the fact that you felt you could agree with both makes me feel great. I'm glad you thought both the chapters were perfect. I'm really excited to see what you have to say about everything that happens from here on out. Thanks for both the reviews!